Today is Wednesday. I am happy right now, because...
WELL JUST BECAUSE :D
I was off sick from work yesterday and Monday, had a cold and felt really grotty and thought 'stuff it, I'm staying home'. Thursday last week was a public holiday and Friday I was on leave, so it ended up being an unintentionally lonnnnnnnggggggggg weekend.
Thursday we popped in at G's parents for tea and cupcakes. Woolies has chocolate cupcakes with mini-Astros - they are so yum and have become a bit of an irresistible treat.
Friday we borrowed G's dad's Jeep to take junk to the dump. Yes, we FINALLY got rid of the old security gate, the dead microwave, a dead TV, scanner, some vertical blinds, etc, that had been stuffed under our staircase +- ever since we moved in or the respective thing died/was replaced. We dumped that first, then headed on through to Mom's, where we got a 'jeep-load' of junk (literally junk, like rusted paint tins, a bit of soffit from gawdknowswhere, under-carpet insulation, some random wire spring-like things, etc). I'd say that's quite an accomplishment! Mom still (!) has to actually take the old things from the roof-cavity away to be donated/sold/whatever, who knows when that will happen, but at least there isn't this pile of crap building up in the garden. It's a small but significant step in the right direction. There is hope yet. It's just a pity G's dad is selling the Jeep but I'm sure we can still make a plan to take other junk to the dump. I must say that the emptied space under our staircase is such a relief - not that it was bothering me, but it just feels like the place is a little lighter. I really don't think we're going to have loads to take with us to Aus. Whatever we will take will be very special to us.
On Wednesday, G told me he has a secret/surprise for me. Saturday morning, I had to have a bag packed for 1 night, and we were dropping Dude off at his parents. All he told me was that we would be driving around looking for things. After dropping Dude off, we set out. The weather wasn't terrific because it was overcast and looked like rain but we basically 'raced' the weather - G handed me a paper with a map of sorts and said 'we're looking for Bamboo'. He'd left a big clue on the map though, and I was THRILLED to work out that we were heading off for a LONG DRIVE to Knysna!!!
It was stunning the whole way (amazing farmlands and hills and mountains), and only a few hours after leaving home did I realise that we would be going right past my cousins' place and that we could meet up with them! So I sms'd my mom giving her some clues and said "can you guess where we're headed?" and she excitedly sms'ed "to see J+L?? you guys are rascals" (she loves driving trips and holidays and also J+L!). We stopped for lunch somewhere in the middle of nowhere (it was beautiful), and then I sms'd J saying 'yo, you guys up for meeting up this evening or tomorrow morning?'. We didn't make it to see them on Saturday, so G and I went and explored Knysna's waterfront and had supper at a restaurant there. It's such a 'small town' and the waterfront is very small, but it was nice and so very quiet. Sunday we met up with my cousins for brunch. At one point after we'd got to their local mall, J sms'd saying "we're nearly there, L is just painting the picasso" - a humorous reference to her almost obsessive need to put on full-on make-up for all occasions! They were there quite soon, and to my surprise they brought their mom, who I hadn't seen for maybe the better part of a decade!! It was lovely to see her, and we had a big hug. I really hope we can see more of them in future.
After chatting in the toy shop (G and I were automatically drawn into the toyshop by all the fancy toys like cars and meccano) for probably half an hour, we set out to find lunch. Decided on a restaurant, but unfortunately despite being HARDLY full or hectically busy, they seriously messed up our order, twice. And they were horrendously slow to add to it, and to add insult to injury, they charged R13 for a 330ml Coke. Jeepers! But anyway, we had a lovely time with them - and I got the photos L had kept aside for me to scan!
We headed off from there at about 2pm (if I recall correctly), and it was drizzly and rainy and at times very windy on our drive back. We stopped a couple of times, but made good time until we hit the pass back into Town... it was backed up from the top of the mountain to further than the eye could see. I sms'd my aunt who lives out that way, to find out if we could perhaps drop in at their place and wait out the crush of traffic, and it took about an hour for us to get off that road to head out their way.
By that stage we both needed a pitstop, so we stopped in at a restaurant after searching in vain for a petrol station with a loo!! My cousin phoned and then I spoke to her dad and he couldn't give us directions to their place so the 2 of them popped in their car and came to lead us to their place. It was fun seeing their (tiny) place after hearing so much about it, and lovely to see them again too. We basically just chatted, sharing news and hearing stories, and then as we were getting up to leave, my aunt dug out some more photos for me to scan - her wedding album/s and some other random photos. Then they took their car and escorted us back onto the road home (there was a lot of construction and lots of diversions so we might have got lost), and then we were A for Away. We eventually got home at about 22:00. Monday I went to the doctor and afterwards we popped in at G's parents to pick up Dude. He's such a sweetie and seemed glad to see us again despite only missing us for 2 nights.
So that's the weekend news, and today I feel so... distant. Work feels so irrelevant, I feel like exploring the world. There is such a large world out there, and I don't feel like I'm in it! Maybe the holiday was just what I needed, except it was a little short. Next time, we can take a LONGGGGGGGG holiday!!
News regarding the ACS assessment/visa: ACS still hasn't done anything further, so G's going to email them later. And the whole visa scenario has changed (but thankfully not for us - for now). The 175 CSL visas, according to the DIAC email/website, will be granted within 12 months of application. Which is good. It's been taking between 7 and 10 months to process them, but there was never a 'they will be done by' time given, so at least we know now (within reason) that if we apply in October, hopefully we'll get the visa by the end of 2010. Which fits our timeline fine. I just hope we get the ACS letter SOON, so that we can apply and BEGIN!! So exciting! But it forces consideration and contemplation, as once we get the visa and move, we leave everything behind. I think I'll sit down and think about everything, this week...
:D
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